Looking back at 2025: A good year despite rough winds

Despite difficult global developments, Queeramnesty Switzerland looks back on the past year with considerable satisfaction: Our financial situation has stabilized, many interested people have contacted us who would like to actively work with us, and with a reorganization of Focus Refugees and our new website, we have repositioned ourselves to some extent.

Text: Philipp Abegg, Marc Schmid

"Backlash" is arguably the defining buzzword of 2025 for the queer community. Just a year earlier, in Switzerland, Nemo's victory at the Eurovision Song Contest had given us hope for a fruitful discussion about gender equality. Then came Donald Trump's election victory in the US, and suddenly international companies were scrapping their diversity programs en masse. Hard-won queer rights are being challenged not only in the US; the political climate has become harsher across the board.

At the same time, there was also encouraging support for queer causes, perhaps partly driven by a "now more than ever" attitude. How far the backlash will ultimately go remains to be seen – there is certainly considerable resistance. One thing is clear: an attack on the rights of LGBTQIA+ people is always an attack on human rights and ultimately strikes at the heart of any free and open society.

Surplus thanks to cost-cutting measures and increased donations

It was also an eventful year for Queeramnesty. After two years of deficits, we were able to close 2025 with a surplus thanks to cost savings and an increase in donations. Despite the austerity measures, we participated in the Pride events in Zurich and Bern in 2025 with 40 to 60 mentees each year and supported the Queersicht film festival in Bern and the lila.queer festival in Zurich with smaller contributions.

We are very pleased that we have been able to expand the group coordination team (GruKo) and thus broaden its base. We now have a comfortable team composition for group coordination, website management, and social media.

Additional revenue was also generated through the solidarity beer campaign in various Zurich bars: For several weeks, a special beer was offered, with 1 franc going to Queeramnesty for every bottle sold.

In 2025, we were again able to present our work to several groups and at events, such as the GLP Bern and the queer association Network. Co-group coordinator Marc also took the opportunity to present the results of a study on queerphobic violence, which Queeramnesty had co-organized in 2024.

Our magazine, which is sent four times a year to around 1000 addresses, remains an important tool for raising the visibility of Queeramnesty and communicating our concerns to the public. In 2025, it also celebrated its 10th anniversary.

A refreshed, modernized website

One of the most important innovations of the past year is undoubtedly our new website. It not only brought a modern and appealing design, but also makes it much easier for us to keep content up-to-date. Members can independently create and edit events, courses, and magazine articles. Those interested can also register directly for courses and events via the website. This reduces the amount of email correspondence and simplifies organization.

In addition, there is an exclusive members' area where important information can be found more quickly and clearly. This is also linked to a members' app, which will further simplify and strengthen our internal communication and work processes. The website with its new features was also a topic of discussion at the retreat on February 14, 2026.

Nemo's surprise gift

Last autumn, we received a special gift: As part of "Secondhand Day" on November 8, 2025, Nemo made the outfit he wore at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest final in Basel available for auction on Ricardo. At Nemo's request, the proceeds were to benefit Queeramnesty. Secondhand Day is an initiative to raise awareness about throwaway consumption and promote the reuse of textiles and other consumer goods. It is primarily supported by the companies Ricardo, Tutti, and anibis.ch , which belong to the Swiss Marketplace Group.

The whole project was uncharted territory for us and involved a great deal of effort and excitement. In the end, it turned out somewhat differently than expected, as the winning bidder, although he donated a substantial sum, didn't want to keep the Nemo outfit. He left it to us for our own use, which is why we sought and have since found a good, non-commercial solution for the fantastic costume at the Swiss National Museum in Zurich.

Photo: Eurovision

We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to Nemo for his generous gesture and to Ricardo for his support. The gift has prompted us to use the proceeds to establish a small fund for hardship cases and other exceptional situations. Especially in our work at Focus Refugees, we are repeatedly confronted with situations that don't fit any established framework and for which, therefore, hardly any resources are available, even though humanitarian aid is desperately needed. In recent years, due to limited financial resources, we have been forced to be cautious in this regard.

With the new fund of over 5,000 Swiss francs, we want to create a way to provide quick and uncomplicated assistance. The plan is that a member of the Gruko management team, together with the finance officer, will be able to easily approve amounts up to 1,000 Swiss francs.

Reorganization for Focus Refugees

Our subgroup Focus Refugees, which provides social support to queer asylum seekers, reorganized in 2025, significantly reducing the workload of the coordination team (Livia and Annett). As the group had grown larger and more complex in recent years, there was a desire for a more personal approach to collaboration. Many missed the interaction among members. Furthermore, the workload had become too much for Livia and Annett.

The aim of the reorganization was therefore to relieve the workload of the two existing groups and to foster greater self-organization within the new local groups. This was followed by a period of intensive preparation and then a kick-off event in August. Currently, there are six regional groups: four in Zurich and one each in Basel and Bern. Another group in Central Switzerland is planned, and mentors are still being sought for this group.

In 2025, we were able to initiate 63 new mentoring relationships for asylum seekers. We are currently supporting approximately 200 people in total. Requests remain high, which is why some asylum seekers have to wait a long time until suitable mentors are found. Fortunately, many new mentors also came forward in 2025, whom we were able to train. We continue to share the mentoring workload with the Transgender Network Switzerland (TGNS), which is responsible for supporting transgender refugees.

The annual exchange meeting with the Zurich Asylum Organization (AOZ) also took place in 2025, and we were able to present the challenges faced by queer asylum seekers in the city and canton of Zurich. The AOZ invites various queer organizations to this meeting each year, should any contact them.

Finance and Administration

After a record-breaking year in 2022, donations plummeted in the following two years. Since we were unable to reduce expenses quickly enough, 2023 and 2024 resulted in painful losses that significantly weakened the group's financial foundation. Efforts to raise funds from grant-making foundations and similar institutions proved difficult. Fortunately, however, last year saw a significant increase in donations – the vast majority coming from within the queer community. Furthermore, our cost reductions enabled us to generate a surplus in 2025, which partially offset the earlier losses.